V. I.

Lenin

BRIEF NEWSPAPER REPORT

Lenin set forth the Bolsheviks’ views on the war, on peace, and
the coalition government.

In the first part of his speech Lenin briefly stated the reasons
for his journey via Germany, then passed on to the war and made
clear its predatory nature. He then dwelt on the question of how
to end the war and developed the idea that the only way of doing
this was by an alliance of the workers of all the belligerent
countries.

Lenin next dealt with the question as to what stood in the way
of such an alliance and outlined the road by which such an
alliance of the workers could and should be achieved.

The way to this was not by an agreement between the workers and
the capitalists, and between the soldier-peasants and the
landowners, but by a struggle of the workers and peasants
against their oppressors.

The coalition government was an agreement between the socialists
and the capitalists, it meant suppression of the revolution.

Seizure of power by the workers and the peasants could solve our
country’s most pressing problems for her—the problem of the
land, of its transfer to the peasants, and other questions
connected with the war, such as food supply, improving the
condition of the workers, etc.

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